Review riding the Fafrees FF20 Polar

Welcome to my riding review of the Fafrees FF20 Polar e-Bike.
What a great bike and an absolute joy to ride. Having had a stroke and left weak down my left side I get easily fatigued on this side an now also suffering with Ataxia I find it hard mobility wise to get around but this bike has given me my independence and freedom back.

In this video I take you out on a small cycle path trip around the Ford Green area, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire and also discuss the law on e-Bikes which seriously needs to be addressed and someone overseeing it who knows what they are talking about.

Link to bike on Amazon https://amzn.eu/d/fSvdl8C
Video taken using the DJI Osmo 4 action cam with wireless mike
Link to Amazon here for that https://amzn.eu/d/efHOgAr

For more info on my local Cycling group on Facebook, aimed at more elderly people and those with mobility issue then mail me at steve_clews@hotmail.co.uk for details and a link
@Stoke @fafreesebike @osmo_global

Okay, so that’s my first proper ride on the Freeze FF20 by Pol um Polar. Great bike. Just getting used to it a little bit. Um but yeah um especially for me with having limited capabilities you know in terms of mobility and walking this really is a good stable bike you know I love it. It’s nice heavy bike you know it makes you feel nice and secure and safe. It’s a very very comfortable ride. got it a couple of days ago. I didn’t get out on it yesterday because I was waiting for some stuff to come in from Amazon, but um yeah, um so far very impressed. It’s dual battery and it works perfectly, you know, straight out the box. There’s hardly any setup to do with it. It comes folded up because it is a folding bike, which is ideal. you know, you can get it into a boot of a, you know, a reasonable size car. I wouldn’t say, you know, a small car, but um, let’s get through here. But it is, you know, a really, really decent bike. It’s got front suspension. Um, it has got rear suspension, which I actually prefer. But, um, in saying that, the seat is so comfortable. You literally don’t feel the bumps in it. It’s a very powerful bike. Um, mine is not unlocked. It’s not been tampered with in any way. So, for all intents and purposes, it is road legal, although it’s um controversially classed as not legal in the UK because yes, it does have a 500 W motor. And that’s a really silly law really, you know, um because the speed’s not controlled by the motor. The speed’s controlled by the controller box. And this one is set to the legal limits in the UK. That being about 15 15 miles an hour. And yes, it does have a throttle on, which again is legal providing you’re not using it over 4 and a half miles an hour. Um, the idea of throttle really is basically it allows you to get started on the middle of SL. If you ever seen a cyclist who’s on a bank at say traffic lights or something, you see the way they pull off. They usually have to stand on the pedals, get moving, and they’re weaving all over the place, you know, into the line of traffic, up on the pavement, sometimes clipping it. Hi, mate. And um to me it it’s a lot safer having that throttle because you can sit there traffic lights, you know, and just turn a throttle and it gets you going at least up to a speed on and off maybe 5 miles an hour, which means you’ve got that initial inertia up and running, you know, and you’ve got that inertia to get your balance so you can take over. It’s got five power assist levels, five being the most and obviously zero being off. To be honest, I run it mainly in level two to level three because I, you know, I do want to feel like I’m cycling a bit and it’s like now I’m going slightly uphill. I’m not putting any effort in. I’m just turning my legs on the pedals and the motors just give me that little bit more assistance to help me. And you know, that’s exactly what you want. It’s great. Um, three, it does step up quite a bit at three, but again, you know, it will go up to five. Five I’d probably use on a very steep, long hill. And I’ve also got seven gears with Shimano gears, trigger gears. So, in a combination of both, you’re going to get the best of both worlds. Like I say, in terms of limitations I’ve got with the Ataxia, having had a stroke where uh my left hand side of the body is weaker than my right, it does get easily fatigued. Um you know, and if I was on a normal mountain bike, it would be getting fatigued now where it doesn’t work properly. It doesn’t coordinate properly, which obviously causes a lot of problems. But with this, I can get out and get about, you know, and to be honest, you feel like you could ride this literally all day, you know, without getting feeling like your pelvis is pushing through your ass cheeks sort of thing, you know? It’s that comfortable. You’re not going to get fatigued or anything else. Being fat tires, okay, it does put more resistance on the road. So yes, you do need that motor to help you. But in saying that, you know, the grip and the stability it gives you is second to non really, you know, absolutely fantastic. Um, I got it off Amazon and to be honest, the service I got has been fantastic. You know, second to none. You know, delivery was earlier than expected. Um, you know, and I was getting updates by text message, even a phone call off the driver when he was sort of five minutes away telling me to be there shortly, you know. So, um, can’t afford to. It’s the first time I’ve had a freeze bike and, you know, they are solid bikes. I looked at a lot of reviews because I wanted that something which would give me what I need, you know, that bit of stability when I’m out riding. See, this is where the throttle comes in because now I can just gently guide it through and away I go and off I go again. Um, I wanted something which was stable. I’ve got my mobility scooter, which is great, you know, don’t get me wrong, but it is a mobility scooter. That’s what it’s designed for. And it does have a problem with bigger hills and being frontwheel drive. Um, you know, it can skid a lot of the front. And with me, I like being out in nature, you know, exploring, going on different tracks, going on different trails. And, you know, this is absolutely fantastic for that. Thanks mate. Cheers pal. Oh yeah. Now, like I say, um, this bike I’m not going to mess around with. I’m not going to unlock it or anything else because, you know, for me, 15 miles an hour is plenty fast enough from one of these for what I do. Um, and I’ve seen everybody’s the same. And yes, you know, ebikes are getting some bad press and unnecessarily so, you know, on um by the media and the government are cracking down on them as well, you know, using the police to crack down on them where they could take or seize a bike which is legal and within 48 hours have it crushed. Cheers. Thank you very much. Um, and yeah, you know, there have been some accidents. I think a lot of the problems are caused by these emotos and especially the idiots which ride around on them. I mean these have up to five maybe 8,000 watt motors on them would do around about 70 60 70 m an hour and very often used in snatch and grabs and stuff like that. But, you know, that’s not or that’s only a proportion of um people out there, you know, and the press like to say, “Oh, it’s an ebike.” Instead of referring to it as an emoto, they refer to it as an ebike. And it’s a bit unfair really um because there’s a lot of genuine people who are now using ebikes for genuine activities, genuine stuff. All right. Um, you know, and I think the other people who bring bad press to are these, you know, the Uber Eatats, the deliverer, just to name a few, who employ illegal immigrants, who have illegal ebikes, you know, uh, thousand watt motors on them, and they they simply don’t care, apart from the fact they’re working illegally. because they’re staying in a hotel, getting free food and everything else, not paying any tax. Some of them can be earning up to £1,000 a week. Now, I’m not knocking the fact they’re illegal immigrants or anything else, but the fact is they routed around the streets through pedestrian centers. You know, where there’s a lot of people walking doing 30 odd miles an hour and people have been killed by them, unfortunately. You know, one of these things hit you. Yeah, as a rider, you’re going to come off. You might have a few scuff marks, but for the um person to it, they’re not going to be so lucky. You know, I think this is around about 30 35 kg bike. You know, it’s solid metal frame and it’s going to hurt. You know, it’s going to kill a dog, kill a person or whatever. So, um, you know, you do need to take this into consideration. But, you know, in terms of the wattage of the engine, uh, the power unit, you got to remember it’s not the motor that controls the speed. It’s the control unit. That’s what controls the speed. That’s what makes a difference. So in many respects you say control unit is very much like you as a person you know you go out to the car you can have a one liter car and a 2.5 3 liter car okay obviously the 3 lit going to be bigger going to be faster but at the same fine. You know, both will do 70 mph, which is the speed limit on a motorway. Both will do 60, 50 or 30, you know, in especially, you know, a builtup area, you know, and it’s up to you at the end of the day, you know, whether you keep to the speed limit or not. And if you don’t keep to the speed limit, you get caught, you know, you’re going to get a speeding fine, but you’re the controller. Well, with a lock bike like this, you’ve got no choice over it. I can’t go over the speed limit. Well, not power assisted in any case. Of course, going downhill, you know, nature and gravity takes over. And yeah, I can go faster. Not that I want to, but it can be a lot faster because I’ve got gravity then pushing me. But the motor itself will cut out at 15 and a half or 15 miles an hour. So, you know, whoever’s making these rules up sat in their ivory tower, been assigned to oversee it by parliament and the other cronies, it’s pretty obvious they haven’t got a clue what they’re talking about. You know, somebody that sat there, oh, bigger engine must be more powerful. And yeah, they are more powerful. But again, you know, I can’t break the speed limit on this one, you know, with the motor, which is fair enough. And why would I want to, you know, you another way of putting it is saying, well, in terms of the motor, it’s a bit like having a charging bank for your phone. You can get different sizes. Okay? It doesn’t mean the charging bank gives you more power into the phone. You know, at the end there, you can plug your phone into the main socket. Doesn’t mean say 240 volt is going in it. It’s obviously regulated and cut down, you know, so it doesn’t get damaged. you know, it doesn’t get too much of an electric charge in it. Okay. And that’s being controlled by the controller chips in that. But if I get a power bank and it’s bigger than another one, it just means yes, there’s more power to charge it in there, but through the way electronics works, it just gives a more rapid charge. It doesn’t mean say it’s more power, it’s a rapid charge. And it’s the same with these. my controller’s set to the legal limit, then it shouldn’t matter what size motor I’ve got on it. You know, for example, if I’m if I’m with somebody else, exactly the same bike, just different size engine uh motor, they have a 250, I have a 500. What it means is if we’re both going the same speed and I come up to a hill, they will probably have to go up a power assist level to get them up that hill. They’ll probably have to use the gears, start coming down the gears again so the motor can cope with the assistance. Whereas, if I’m on this, which is 500, I probably won’t have to because it’s got that power it could put through, but still keeping me within that legal limit. So, you know, it’s very controversial. A lot of people are up in arms about it. You know, it seems like government, they’re all for this net zero. You know that muppet Ed Miller band you know with his net zero pound net zero you know he’s more like be better off in Wallace and Groy that idiot but you know it’s all chirping on about that and it seems like when some we do get things which would contribute towards it you know get some of the cars off the road some of the motorbikes be more economical. It seems like they just want to stop it because they know people are enjoying themselves, but obviously it’s not paying fuel tax or anything else. Yeah, you pay for a bit of electricity to charge it, but at the end of the day, you don’t have to pay that horrendous fuel tax, you know, drivers and everything have to pay. And that’s the problem. That’s what they don’t like really, you know. So all this net zero is just words that they like to use, make them sound big and sound clever. I say it’s just words they like to use to make them more popular or whatever. And it’s, you know, it is stupid. And it seems like, you know, we’ve got this nanny government which does absolutely hate anybody enjoying themselves having a bit of this decent leisure time. But enough complaining. You know, for me, this bike’s an absolute therapy. You know, it allows me to get out. It allows me to get in today nature to get on these trails which are going around like that. It’s just a cycle route. That’s just the brakes bedding in. Um I’m not out of breath. You know, I had two mountain bikes before. I had a gravel bike and that was quite powerful and I had a trek mounted bike which I converted to an ebike on the front wheel conversion. And yeah, they were great. But even then, I’d probably be a bit tired by now. And I’m certainly not feeling that with this [Music] [Music] Now feel nice and relaxed. And again, this is where the throttle comes into play. So I just knock it down and just take it forward nice and gently up to the gate and just allows me oops to guide it through bit wobbler just to guide it through and get clear the gate and I’m on a hill. I’m starting off nice and stable until I can take over with the pedals. It’s coming past. Thank you. And you know, it’s good cuz yes, okay, people do say, “Oh, they’re just lazy riding.” Well, they might think that. And normally they say that because they haven’t got one themselves. But you know especially not just people like me but people who are older got limitations you know especially with mobility and stuff you know they are brilliant you know it gives me my independence gives me my freedom I can get out and about. I can enjoy myself. I’m just going to pull over cuz I just want to adjust my mirror a little bit. That might be a bit better down, you know. It gives me everything I need, you know, and getting out into the open, getting on some tracks in the woods, you know, for me is everything. It’s a therapy in itself. You know, I suffer with PTSD, mental health, and for me, this is everything, you know, I need to get around it. You know, no medication, no counselor or anything else is going to provide what I need. Oh yeah, you know, no therapy is going to give me what I get through just getting out on my bike and having a ride around. I say, you know, I’ve had mountain bikes before, not in this class. The track was good. The gravel bike was good, but not as capable as this bike is. And you know, a ride like that, I’d say, “Oh, that was a big ride.” That was now be saying to Oh, that was a big ride. That was I’m tired now. Time to head backwards. I just feel like I keep going all day on this. And you know that’s what it’s about. Um you know I was in the army just over 15 16 years in the army as an AAI physical training instructor. So I know what it’s like to do exercise. cuz I always like to beast myself and push myself. Them days are gone for me now, you know. Yes, it’s about a bit of exercise, about fresh air, you know, mental well-being and health. It’s just about getting out, not having to work hard and overdo it to the point you’re exhausted. And I say, you know, with me having a stroke, um, I did do a quick recovery, but only partial recovery. I ended up with a taxia, which affects my mobility quite a bit, you know, in terms of walking and getting around. Um, and the left side is still weaker and I think it’s all going to be weaker. Good boy. All right, mate. You know, and um sort of based on that, you know, it does get fatigued really quickly. But like I say, you know, all I’m really doing is just turning my legs just to keep that bit of power assistance on. I’m only in power level two. You know, I’ve got another three to go, but I got my gears, you know, and using them sensibly, you know, I don’t need to be in high power level. You know, I’ve seen people do reviews on this where power level five and they’re just using the throttle only. And that’s fine if you’re that way inclined, you know, and they’re getting 50 to 60 miles out of them, which is phenomenal, you know, and I think if you do, you know, use these as they’re meant to be used, you know, as power assist. You’re going to get at least a good 100 mile out. you know, so I I want it because of the distance, because of the range, you know. I don’t want to be going out thinking, “Oh, I’m going to have to stop soon.” um or head back soon because I’m running out charger with the two batteries. You know, I’m not going to do 100 miles in a day. I probably do 50 odd, you know, with this bike, but um you know, from a realistic point of view, you know, I can get some good places on this and I’m really looking forward to using it. So, if you’re interested, you know, in doing this, you’re like me, if you got limitation, you’re getting on a bit, but you want to get out, you want to do something, you know, um, please give me a shout. I’ll give you a link to me Facebook group, especially if you’re in sort of Hanley area, Stoke on Trent, but further a field’s fine because again, if you got decent bike, distance becomes less of a problem to get to places. um you know and what we’ll do we’ll arrange to go on some adventures It’s coming past on your left, mate. Thank you. You know, we get out there and do some exploring. you know, and organize a few rides. You know, don’t want too many in the group. Don’t want 10 15 um you know, look like one of these to the France groups, but you know, just a few people can meet up now and again and get out, you know, take a bit of snappy with us, have a nice comfortable relaxing ride out, you know, it’d be great. So, like I say, if you just message me on um in the comments section down below, I’ll send you the link and then you know, if you want to join up and join me, you can do. But in terms of the bike, you know, I’ve got to say this is a fantastic bike. Absolutely love it. It’s everything, you know, I could dream for and more. So, a mobility scooter is good, but it is a mobility scooter. You know, they do say, “Well, we don’t recommend you go cross country on it.” And yeah, I like like some dirt tracks now and again, but um you know, I don’t do major stuff, but again, you know, you might want to cut across some grass or something, and this just handles it. goes on sand fine, goes on snow fine, goes on more with a tires, gets you through everything. So, you know, but as a bike, it’s spot on. It’s coming on your left, mate. Yeah, really really impressed with it. myself at the moment. I’m just getting used to it, getting a feel for it. You know, from the outset, it’s really comfortable and everything else. And, you know, a little bit of practicing cuz I haven’t cycled now for a long time. Good year and a half, two years. So, last on the bike, so I’m a little bit out of practice. and some of the things, but you know, I’ll soon get back into it and everything else. But, you know, yeah, you know, I’m really happy with it, really impressed, you know, for the cost of the bike as well, for what you get. It’s absolutely amazing. You know, you can pay out a lot of money for an ebike. um you know looking at the reviews and stuff like that you know a lot of them don’t come anywhere near this spec and yeah like I say unfortunately it is a fact you can unlock them and they can go faster it’s not exactly hard to do you know watch a couple of YouTube videos reprogram all I’ve reprogrammed this for is display miles an hour as opposed to kilometers But through reprogram you can change it so you know the max speed goes higher and that’s where the problem really lies you know with the lawn why people are not happy but a 250 W motor okay will also go above 50 miles an You know, so this restriction on 250 watt is just nonsense really, you know, just as a a one liter car will do over 70 mph. you know, just like a 2 liter car, it’s the person, whereas in this case, you know, it’s the controller. You know, that’s what the police need to be dealing with. You know, if they see people riding around, you know, obviously you got to use common sense with it. If it’s going down a hill then yeah know they’re going to expect these bikes going to go faster than 15 mph. Of course they will. But you know, if they’re on the straight going up a hill, they’re not pedaling, then you know, it’s not hard. It’s a bit of common sense. And I do over 6, eight, well, 16, 70 mph. You know, you got to say, “Right, there’s something going on there. Let’s pull this person over.” And it’s an easy check to do. you know, they don’t need to be sending them away to get them checked. All they got to do, you know, turn the throttle on full and see how fast it goes. If it goes above 15 and 12 miles an hour, well, you got to give a bit more than that, you know, sort of 16 17 mph, you got to say that’s been unlocked. And yeah, it’s obviously been the person’s choice to unlock it. Like everything else in life, you know, you’ve got to take responsibility for that. And if you get your bike crushed, well, that’s your problem. You know, you can’t go running complain to anybody. But like I say, You know, we all love choices, you know, and it’s making sensible choices. And yeah, I know we can’t unfortunately rely on too much common sense of people in this country, but you know the law’s the law. Whether we like it or not, we have to stick to it. But the law needs to be certainly I feel a little bit fairer. and what it’s doing. And you know, we need to get rid of this sort of nanny government we’ve got who think they’ve got the best interest in heart all time. So, I’m going to sign off for now. I just want to say thank you for watching. and I’ll see you all soon.